The present invention relates generally to building and building structures and more particularly to wall panels and wall sections and to methods adapted to form wall frames.
Insulated building panels for use in constructing walls is well-known in the art. These wall framing panels generally consist of an insulating foam core covered on each side by a sheeting material such as plywood or oriented strand board (OSB). These panels often have reinforcing studs to provide the panel with additional rigidity and strength. Originally, these wall panel constructions were manufactured having plywood or OSB sheathing, surrounding a polyurethane or other foam core and having reinforcing wooden studs vertically aligned within the panel. Over the years, metal framing construction has become increasingly popular and wall panel manufacturers have gradually replaced wooden reinforcing struts with metal reinforcing struts. As a result, many modular wall panels available today use metal framing construction studs as well as expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam.
Modular wall panels are useful in residential and commercial building construction since they make the assembly of wall frames more efficient. Essentially, a wall frame can be built by simply joining a series of preformed wall panels. Unfortunately, a majority of building designs require customized wall panels. Many modular wall panels can be customized to meet almost any building design by simply resizing the panels to fit the design; however, resizing the wall panels is a difficult task that can usually only be performed by the manufacturer. In practice, the builder must take his architectural plans to the wall panel manufacture, who in turn trims and resizes the wall panels to fit the architectural plans.
While this system of modular wall panel construction is more efficient than constructing a building from scratch, it does have limitations. Firstly, since existing modular wall construction panels cannot be customized in the field, the builder must ensure that the architectural drawings are accurate before sending them to the wall panel manufacturer. The builder is also obligated to follow the architectural drawings precisely since the wall panels are constructed to adhere to the original architectural drawings. Furthermore, the wall panel manufacturer must be very careful in interpreting the architectural drawings to ensure accurately built wall panels. A truly modular and universal wall panel construction system could overcome these limitations if the wall panels could easily be modified in the field.
The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art by providing a modular wall panel for manufacturing an exterior wall by abutting a plurality of said wall panels in side to side alignment. Each of said wall panels consists of a substantially flat rectangular insulating foam core having first and second opposite surfaces, first and second opposite side edges, a width defined by the opposite side edges, opposite top and bottom edges, and a length defined by the top and bottom edges. The panel also has at least one elongated longitudinal support stud mounted to the foam core between the first and second side edges. The longitudinal stud extends substantially the length of the foam core between the top and bottom edges, and extends parallel to the side edges. The panel also has at least one elongated transverse support stud mounted to the foam core substantially perpendicularly relative to the longitudinal support stud, said transverse support stud extending between the opposite side edges. The first side edge of the panel has a first face extending between the first and second opposite sides and the second side edge having a second face extending between the first and second opposite sides. The first and second faces are adapted and configured such that the first and second faces define an elongated first channel when the first face of one panel is abutted against the second face of an adjacent panel, said first channel having a elongated first cavity and an opening extending to the first surface of the panels.
With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes a description of the preferred typical embodiment of the principles of the present invention, in which: